Now Distrust "Liberators."

New York Times 100 years ago today, April 13, 1913:
Christians Fear They've Fallen from Frying Pan Into the Fire.
Special Correspondence The New York Times.
    LONDON, March 29.— Instead of emancipating the misgoverned European provinces from the Turk, says Lucien Wolf in an article in The Graphic, the result of the war has been to sell them into a new subjection. Thrace, Macedonia, and Salonika are handed over, bound and gagged, to be haggled over and partitioned by Bulgars, Serbs and Greeks.
    Mr. Wolf's view of what will happen in this unfortunate corner of Europe is a gloomy one. He remarks that everybody who comes back from the theatre of war looks with misgiving to the consequences of the coming peace. He doubts whether even the partition will be carried out without bloodshed, saying that the allies are already eyeing each other with ill-concealed uncharitableness, and that if they manage to divide the spoils without quarreling they will certainly carry away with their respective shares a good deal of dangerous resentment.
    And in this atmosphere, Mr. Wolf says, the discontent of the dismembered and annexed provinces will find a good deal of incendiary encouragement. Already, he adds, the situation bears a disquieting look, and he quotes Prof. Miliukoff, the eminent Russian parliamentarian, who recently made a tour in the wake of the victorious armies and who has drawn a pessimistic picture of Macedonia in his letters to the Rietch of St. Petersburg.
    Prof. Miliukoff says that the people who had prepared to welcome their "liberators" with laurel wreaths are now moody and sullen. Leading Macedonians, he declares, are filled with "alarm and perplexity" at the fate preparing for them. They are bewildered, not only by the perfidy of the Bulgars, but also by the apathy and inconsistency of Europe. "One can," says Mr. Wolf, "well believe that the brutal shattering of their National dream, which was by no means extravagant, may lead to serious trouble." Mr. Wolf continues:
    "The treatment of the Albanian problem by the powers approaches more nearly to the old traditions of European policy. But this is not because Europe has suddenly become conscience-stricken. The motive of an autonomous Albania is precisely the same as that of the dismembered Macedonia. In both cases the end to be served is the convenience of Europe and nothing else. Albania is to become autonomous not because it is right that the Albanians should be free, but solely because an Albanian State is necessary to Austria as a counterpoise to Servia and to distract pan-Serb activities from the direction of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The scheme is supported by the other powers for similarly selfish reasons — by Germany because a powerful Servia would paralyze Austria as a member of the Triplice; by Italy because she cannot afford to let Austria enjoy a monopoly of the good-will of the Albanians; and by the Triple Entente because any other course would be productive of endless worries for their respective Foreign Offices, and might even land them in another war."